A Hanging

The essay “A Hanging” by George Orwell explores the central idea of people just being useless observers to life. The title tells us exactly what the plot is, which is the hanging of a prisoner, but more than that the essay is about seeing the human and the value of life and how this hanging is taking that away. While those are the ideas written in the essay I interpreted the words and writing style to reflect on the idea of people just being observers of life and just watching things happen (like a hanging) and not always doing the right thing.
Orwell has chosen specific words to descried the events and the diction used really creates a mental image that stimulates all our senses. He talks about the gallows as “a brick erection” “overgrown with tall prickly weeds.” This sensory description for me conjured a very clear images of these gallows way off in the middle of no where up in the hills of the Burma countryside. Orwell talks uses a slimily to describe how the prisoner was treated “It was like men handling a fish which is still alive and may jump back into the water.” Diction and imagery are used to paint clear mental images that become the set for a philosophical realization.
The voice of the essay was a home run for me, the voice really depicts exactly what the essay is trying to communicate. The voice of the poem is I think Orwell and while he is the narrator and is in the story he is not the star. Orwell follows along the pack of people going to the hanging and describes to the reader no only the events that are happening but his interpretation. At one point that prisoner is waling to the gallows and “[stepped] slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path.” The narrator of the story offers the reader what he thinks of this simple move “It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide”. This analogy happens in his head, and it is at this point that we learn the he knows what is happening is wrong but still he does not do anything about it. The voice of the essay really reveals to the reader the meaning of the essay which is that people are just useless observers.
Personally I really like the theme of this essay, I think that there is a lot of truth to it. Almost everyday we as people are faced with challenging situations where we know that something is wrong (maybe bullying, breaking the law, being disrespectful…) and hardly ever are we good enough to do something about it and just watch it happen. Orwell has obviously picked up on this human emotion and has drawn our attention to it. Something that I thought was unique about this essay is that the central idea was presented really obviously, unlike most literature where the author has berried the idea deep with metaphors and fancy language Orwell has very clearly presented the idea making it hard to miss even with just a single read through. I figure that by putting the idea so front and center Orwell really wants people to be aware of this characteristic.
Overall this essay is really well written and clearly communicates its central idea of people just being useless observers very effectively through descriptive language and an ironic voice.

Shooting and Elephant

I enjoyed the essay “shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell mostly because of the writing style than the plot. George uses lots of imagery to describe the situation that he is in of being pressured into shooting an elephant. The police officer (the main character) was a unique character, he was a British police officer in Burma who was feeling the heat from British imperialism. He says he does not enjoy his job, because of there is a strong sense of hatred towards Europeans in Burma. Orwell uses great diction to describe the European imperialistic effects in Burma “The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the long-term convicts, the scarred buttocks of the men who had been Bogged with bamboos--all these oppressed me with an intolerable sense of guilt.” Between this description of British jails and by own personal imagination I am able to get a very clear image of what Orwell is trying to communicate. I really like the description of “cowed faces” in those two words I really clear image of what the long-term convicts look like is created, lacking sunlight and gloomy.
Another great quotation from this essay is “He was lying on his belly 
with arms crucified and head sharply twisted to one side. His face was 
coated with mud, the eyes wide open, the teeth bared and grinning with an 
expression of unendurable agony.” This description is used to describe the man that had been killed by the elephant. These words depict a great image, hopefully no one reading this essay has seen a person killed by and elephant so we rely on this description which is vivid and does not skip any of the dirty details.
Orwell has clearly done some research on Burma before writing this essay as he is able to on numerous occasions make explicit reference to things that are everyday life, the use of this is able to both add a realistic one to the essay as well as provide background information about Burma and life there. My favorite example of this is when he is describing himself going to see the elephant and says that he got on his pony and rode over there. Living in north America we would never get on our pony and got to work, but there that is common which is able to subtly remind us that we are in Burma and not Canada.
The plot of the essay was not a highlight for me, I felt that while it was unique it did not reach out and grab my attention that same way that other pieces of literature have; but then again I get that feeling about most famous works so perhaps the style of good writing is on the one I find entertaining.
George Orwell’s “Shooting and Elephant” is a well-crafted piece of literature